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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

S$195m in casino entry levies collected in 2011

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government collected S$195 million in casino entry levies last year.

S$93 million has been collected so far, in the first six months of this year.

As
part of social safeguard measures, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents
must pay a levy of S$100 a day or S$2,000 a year, for entry to
Singapore's casinos.

Responding to a question in Parliament on
Tuesday, Minister of State for Finance, Josephine Teo said the casino
entry levies are collected by the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote
Board).

It's used for social and charitable purposes.

She
added that the Tote Board does not specifically ring-fence the casino
entry levies to fund measures to contain gambling ills.

Ms Teo said measures to contain gambling ills are funded separately.

MP
for Jurong GRC Ang Wei Neng said: "If MBS earnings for the rest of the
year is as strong as the first quarter this year, the total accumulated
profits in terms of EBITA (a company's earnings before the deduction of
interest, tax and amortisation expenses), will reach or exceed S$5
billion by the end of this year. This means MBS would have recovered all
its initial investment of S$5 billion in less than three years."

Ms
Teo said: "Yes, the casino operators have made more money, but at the
same time, they've contributed to our tax revenues and through these tax
revenues, the government is able to provide support to many
Singaporeans in many areas and expand our resources in terms of care for
Singaporeans."

She said since 2009, the government has more than
doubled its expenditure on containing gambling ills, from S$3.8 million
in FY09 to S$9 million in FY11.

Some key initiatives include
the establishment of the National Council of Problem Gambling (NCPG),
which administers casino exclusion, provides advice to the government on
how to address problem gambling, and implements public education
programmes to address problem gambling.

The government also
provides grants to Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs), such as
Family Service Centres, to defray the cost of counselling services that
the VWOs provide to problem gamblers.

Separately, Ms Teo said in
tandem with the profitability of the two integrated resorts, the
government has also been collecting more taxes from them.

Ms Teo
said the net increase in tax revenues from the two integrated resorts -
Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa - in 2010 was S$900 million.